J-School’s NYCity News Service Named Best in Nation

The CUNY J-School’s NYCity News Service was named the best site of its kind in the nation Wednesday in Editor & Publisher’s EPPY Awards competition. It marked the second consecutive year the News Service won the Best College/University Newspaper Website award, and the third time since 2013.

Meanwhile, Invisible Hands, a News Service special report that examines the impact of undocumented workers on New York’s economy, took top honors in the Best College/University News or Event Feature category.

Five other news service notched finalist certificates, including two more in the Best College/University News or Event Feature category.

Three special reports placed in the Best College/University Investigative or Documentary Feature category:

Breakdown, which examines how New York City’s mentally ill are left with little place to turn – sometimes with tragic consequences.

The Price of Policing, which looks at how New Orleans lets wealthier neighborhoods boost local tax bills to pay for extra protection as poorer sections absorb the brunt of the crime.

Navigating Trump, a series of interactives that explore everything from what you’d pay for the president’s proposed border wall to corporate interests’ sway on campaign finances to the swath of protests pushing back against Trump’s ascendancy.

Two of the EPPY finalists – Breakdown and The Price of Policing – also were recently named finalists in the Associated Collegiate Press national awards competition. The winners of that contest will be announced Saturday.

The NYCity News Service, which debuted in 2007, feeds student stories about New York City neighborhoods to various outlets, and produces multimedia special reports, sometimes in collaboration with professional news organizations.

In recent years, the News Service has collected scores of honors in local and national journalism competitions run by, among others, the Online News Association, the Associated Collegiate Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.